Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, popularly known as Ariyakudi, was a Carnatic music vocalist, born in Ariyakudi, a town in the present-day Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. Ariyakudi developed a unique style of singing which came to be known as The Ariyakudi Tradition and is followed by his students. He is credited with establishing the modern katcheri (concert) traditions in Carnatic music.
Lalgudi Gopala Jayaraman was an Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. He is commonly grouped with M.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.N.Krishnan as part of the violin trinity of Carnatic music. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2001.
Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer (1912–1981), born Thiruvilvamalai Ramaswamy was one of the leading mridangists in the field of Carnatic music. He, along with his contemporaries Palani Subramaniam Pillai and Ramanathapuram C. S. Murugabhoopathy, are revered as the "Holy Trinity of Mrudangam". Mani Iyer was the first mridangist to be awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi (1966) presented by the Music Academy of Madras, the Padma Bhushan (1971) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards(1956) presented by the Government of India.
Adyar K. Lakshman was a noted Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, choreographer and guru.
Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman is an Indian musician and exponent of the Carnatic percussion instrument, the mridangam. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Palghat R. Raghu was a Carnatic musician and percussionist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2007.
N. Rajam is an Indian violinist who performs Hindustani classical music. She remained professor of music at Banaras Hindu University, eventually became head of the department and the dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts of the university.
Thanu Krishna Murthy, better known as T. K. Murthy, is an Indian mridangam player. Murthy is a Padma Shri and Sangeetha Kalanidhi awardee.
Nagai Sriram was an Indian Carnatic violinist.
Nagai Muralidharan is a Carnatic violinist from India. He was awarded Kalaimamani by the State Government of Tamil Nadu in 2003.
K. S. Narayanaswamy, was a Carnatic veena exponent of the Thanjavur style, in which nuances and subtleties are given more importance over rhythm based acrobatics. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1979.
The Rudrapatnam Brothers are an Indian Carnatic vocal duo, consisting of brothers R. N. Thyagarajan and Dr. R. N. Tharanathan. The brothers come from a family of musicians from Rudrapatna village off the Kaveri banks in Arkalgud Thaluk of Hassan district in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka. Vocalist Tiger Varadachariar, on seeing the musical atmosphere there, once claimed that "Rudrapatnam is the Thanjavur of Karnataka". Music, Veda adhyayana, and studying Sanskrit were integral parts of their family tradition.
Vellore G. Ramabhadran was a Mridangam artiste from Tamil Nadu, India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2004.
T. M. Thyagarajan fondly known as TMT was a Carnatic vocalist and musicologist from Tamil Nadu in Southern India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1981.
Kumbakonam M. Rajappa Iyer was a Mridangam Vidwan in the field of Carnatic music from India. He was born in 1916 at Kumbakonam to Muthuswamy Iyer and Sitalakshmi Ammal.
Madras A. Kannan was a Mridangam exponent from Tamil Nadu, India. Due to his outstanding performances in the field of percussion, he is often called as the Mrudanga Samrat which literally means "Emperor of Mridangam". He received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Kalaimamani.
J. Vaidhyanathan affectionately known as JV is a Mridangam exponent from Tamil Nadu, India. He was the first mridangist to receive the Yuva Kala Bharathi Award, Vellore Gopalachariar Memorial award and Isai Peroli Award. He also received several other awards including Kalaimamani the highest civilian award for artists in Tamil Nadu and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists.
Sukanya Ramgopal is an Indian carnatic musician from Tamil Nadu. She is best known as the first woman ghatam player in Carnatic music. She is also proficient in carnatic vocal, violin, mridangam and veena. She received several awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy Award and awards from Madras Music Academy, Chennai.
V.V.Subrahmanyam, commonly known as VVS, is an Indian violist, composer, and academic. Regarded as one of the best violinist in carnatic music.
Trivandrum V. Surendran is a mridangam exponent from Kerala, India. He received several awards including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award, and Madras Music Academy Award.
